The Pythagorean theorem states that the sum of the squares on the legs of a right triangle is equal to the square on the hypotenuse (the side opposite the right angle)—in familiar algebraic notation, a2 + b2 = c2. The Babylonians and Egyptians had found some integer triples (a, b, c) satisfying the relationship. Pythagoras (c. 580–c. 500 bc) or one of his followers may have been the first to prove the theorem that bears his name. Euclid (c. 300 bc) offered a clever demonstration of the Pythagorean theorem in his Elements, known as the Windmill proof from the figure’s shape.

Rectangle AGFE = 2ΔACE. This remarkable result derives from two preliminary theorems: (a) the areas of all triangles on the same base, whose third vertex lies anywhere on an indefinitely extended line parallel to the base, are equal; and (b) the area of a triangle is half that of any parallelogram (including any rectangle) with the same base and height.

The first book of Euclid’s Elements begins with the definition of a point and ends with the Pythagorean theorem and its converse (if the sum of the squares on two sides of a triangle equals the square on the third side, it must be a right triangle). This journey from particular definition to abstract and universal mathematical statement has been taken as emblematic of the development of civilized life. A striking example of the identification of Euclid’s reasoning with the highest expression of thought was the proposal made in 1821 by a German physicist and astronomer to open a conversation with the inhabitants of Mars by showing them our claims to intellectual maturity. All we needed to do to attract their interest and approbation, it was claimed, was to plow and plant large fields in the shape of the windmill diagram or, as others proposed, to dig canals suggestive of the Pythagorean theorem in Siberia or the Sahara, fill them with oil, set them on fire, and await a response. The experiment has not been tried, leaving undecided whether the inhabitants of Mars have no telescope, no geometry, or no existence.

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the well-known geometric theorem that the sum of the squares on the legs of a right triangle is equal to the square on the hypotenuse (the side opposite the right angle)—or, in familiar algebraic notation, a 2 + b 2 = c 2. Although the theorem has long been...